Cup of Company
by InazumaOokami
Summary: Naruto simply loves Ichiraku Ramen, but lately, he hasn't been going lately. Forgetting his reason, he goes back, ready to slurp down the delicious the noodles and savor every moment, but he soon remembers why he hadn't come over in a while.


Note: This story didn't quite come out the way I wanted it to, but I still kind of like it, nonetheless. For the umpteenth time, the female character of the story has no particular identity.

I had hoped to make the story all shy-love cutesy-like, but, as you will soon find out, it turned out to be just the opposite.

Anyway, tell me what you think! I'd really appreciate it. :)

Cup of Company

For as long as he could remember, Uzumaki Naruto had always loved ramen. Beef ramen, chicken ramen, shrimp ramen, plain ramen, spicy ramen, top ramen, ramen in a cup, ramen in a bowl, ramen where you just add water and heat for three minutes -- he loved them all!

Except for the waiting, of course.

Yet, for some reason, he had began to notice that he hadn't been going to Ichiraku's Ramen -- home of the best ramen in the world -- for the last couple days. Whatever the reason was, he couldn't remember. So, one day, when his fridge was empty of ramen all because some really sneaky thief had chosen his house to steal from (but he was actually in denial because he had only forgotten to go grocery shopping for some last week), so he decided to go to the best ramen house in the world and savor every slurp of the wonderful noodles he would soon have.

After making sure his ever-so-faithful Gamachan was in his pocket, he raced out of his house and headed toward Ichiraku without a single stop. When the blue tiled roof and the red letters on the white banner came into view, he grinned and found himself lowering into a crouch. With an excited cry, he took a giant leap toward the shop, aiming for his favorite seat second from the right.

Why he decided to jump so high just so he could land in his favorite seat so fantastically? Because it was fun. So there.

As he practically flew over the innocent civilians walking by, some of them gaping at this strange action of his, he vaguely remembered someone lecturing him about doing something so "careless."

It was along the lines of, "If you keep jumping over people like that -- blah blah blah -- someone will get hurt someday yada yada yada -- and what if someone already took that seat -- nag nag nag you'll be the one paying, not us -- insert some other gibberish here..."

Anyway, the one-sided conversation began to fade away from his memory and was no longer of any importance to him. Besides, he never hurt anyone just by jumping into his seat.

The moment he his bum landed on the comfortable red cushioned stool, he shot his hand into the air and eagerly called, "Five bowls of the usual miso ramen, please, dattebayo!"

Just as those words escaped his lips, he felt a sudden chill on the other side of the counter. He slowly paid more attention to the person before him and began to realize that, instead of the old man running the place, a young girl maybe a few years older than him stood before him with her arms crossed over her chest. She wore an apron that bore Ichiraku's ramen and in right hand, she gripped a hammer.

Naruto blinked twice and stared at the not-a-kitchen-utensil hammer she was gripping so hard that her knuckles were white. He looked toward her face, which was red with what seemed to be anger and her eyes -- oh, dear god, have mercy, her eyes -- had some sort of threatening, icy fire that almost made him scurry away.

Though her frame was rather small and her plain looks almost made her seem pleasant, the voice that left her mouth was what reminded Naruto of everything he had forgotten.

"U-ZA-MA-KIIII!!" she roared.

And before the container of the Kyuubi could his super elite ninja skills to leap back and dodge her outstretched arm, she had grabbed hold of his jacket collar and shook the dangerous-looking hammer-holding fist in front of his face.

"DID YOU ALREADY FORGET WHAT I TOLD YOU, YANSU?!" she yelled, shaking him violently. "SOMEONE'S SERIOUSLY GONNA DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT TO MAKE SOME STUPIDLY OBNOXIOUS AND OBNOXIOUSLY STUPID ENTRANCE TO GET SOME RA..."

Her voice began to sound farther and farther away as Naruto found himself falling in and out of consciousness. For someone who wasn't a ninja, she sure was jerking him quite hard and he had a bad feeling he might get whiplash, which was probably what she was aiming for.

Oh, wait. Thats right... He began to remember back to a couple days ago and the reason why he hadn't ate at Ichiraku's for a while. It was this loud-mouthed girl who had lectured him a couple days ago, saying how dangerous his stunt was. Teuchi while he went to find some of the wonderful menma to make ramen and Ayame had left for vacation much earlier, so she, being Teuchi's only niece, was chosen to substitute for him. Just because he talked back to her after she lectured him, she was practically yelling at him all while he was eating. Her commanding voice totally ruined his time-to-eat-some-ramen atmosphere. So, he decided to just eat at home until she left.

"OI! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME, UZUMAKI?!"

Unfortunately, she was obviously still there.

Naruto found himself back in Ichiraku, but his vision was spinning. After shaking his head a couple times, he realized that she had released his shirt and now stood before him, tapping the head of the hammer on the counter while scowling at him.

"GEEZ, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he whined, rubbing the back of his neck. "That really hurt, ya know?! You can't do that to a customer, dattebayo!"

She suddenly pointed the hammer toward a sign hanging on the wall that clearly stated, "WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE."

Naruto stubbornly folded his hands over his chest and grumbled some profanities under his breath. The girl rolled her eyes and muttered a quiet, "Idiot..." With a sigh, she raised her head toward the entrance to the kitchen and raised a hand next to her mouth. "YO!" she hollered, making Naruto jump in his seat. "NISHI! MATSU! UP AND CENTER, YANSU!"

Two clumsy-looking men stumbled out of the kitchen and stood tall, side-by-side. "Hai, Sempai!" they chorused, looking rather intimidated by the petite girl they towered over.

The girl smirked and pointed the hammer to Naruto, making him almost fall out of his seat. "You heard the brat. Five bowls of miso ramen! On the double!"

"Hai, Sempai!" They then pushed and shoved past each other into the kitchen, sounds of the ramen being made being heard soon afterwards.

"Why the heck do you have a hammer?" Naruto inquired, watching her warily. "You don't use that for cooking, do you?"

She grinned proudly at him and pointed back to the sign. "That. Pretty clever, yansu."

"THAT'S NOT CLEVER AT ALL! Youre gonna scare away the customers just by waving that thing around, dattebayo!"

"Oh, good, then its working!" she scoffed, twirling the hammer. "If you haven't noticed, I don't really like having to waste my time just to talk to other people, so the less customers, the better, yansu."

"I bet no one would even want to talk to you no matter what you did, dattebayo."

"EHH?! WHAT'D YOU SAY, UZUMAKI?!"

"EHH? WHAAAT? IT'S YOUR OWN BANSHEE VOICE MAKING YOU DEAF, TOO?!"

"BANSHEE VOICE?!Pssshhh, yeah RIGHT! IT'S YOUR OBNOXIOUS VOICE THAT'S BREAKING MY EARDRUMS, YANSU!"

"HA! YEAH RIGHT! ME? OBNOXIOUIS? YOU SHOULD REALLY GET YOUR EARS CHECKED, DATTEBAYO!"

"RRGH WHY, YOU AS--"

Some of the passersbys slowed their pace as they watched the young girl in the ramen place growled viciously and tried to strangle the poor customer that was desperately trying to hold her arms back.

Ah... The poor boy was her first customer in the last couple of days. Either he was bold, or completely stupid.

* * *

The second Naruto had drank the last drop of soup in his last bowl, the girl had suddenly held her hand out to him, palm faced up.

"All right, Uzumaki," she said rudely, shoving her empty hand before him. "Pay up... yansu."

He scowled. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out... nothing.

"Well?" she snapped, glaring at him. "Pay up already, Uzumaki. Ive got other customers to get to, you know."

"What customers?!" Hiding his pale face from her, he frantically searched his pants pockets, his jacket pockets, his jackets inner pockets, inside his sleeves, inside his shirt, and under his headband. "Eh... A-ano..."

"Well?" she growled, her upturned hand curling into a fist. "Do you have money or not?"

"G-Gamachan!" the blonde cried, hastily dropping to his knees and searching around the ground. "Where are you?! Answer me, dattebayo!"

He completely froze when feeling the icy aura just behind him and he hesitantly turned around. He blanched when seeing her glaring down at him impatiently.

"W-well!" he stammered, jumping up to his feet before he lost all of his dignity. "I dont really know where Gamachan went off to, so--"

"Oh?" The look in her eyes darkened, reminding Naruto of Sakura when she was in one of her "moods." "Is that so? Poor Gamachan probably fell out of your pocket when you CARELESSLY DECIDED TO JUMP HALFWAY HERE, YANSU!"

Naruto stared blankly at her, trying to formulate a plan in the short amount of time he had left to live. He put on a weak grin and slowly backed away. "Uh, y-yeah!" he agreed, clapping a fist into his palm. "Thats probably right, dattebayo! Uh, Ill just go and look for him and--"

Just as he turned around and was about to make a run for it, he felt her hand suddenly grasp the back of his shirt and he found himself forcefully pulled over the counter and into her territory.

"Dont think Im gonna let you outta here without paying, Uzumaki! Now get an apron and get to the dishes, yansu! And no talking back, cause until you finish your debt of five dishes, youre my underling!"

Naruto obediently, though while wearing a bold expression on his face, put on an apron and adjusted his headband. Just think of this as a mission, just think of this as a mission, he thought, stomping over to the sink and watching as she cheerfully dumped his empty bowls before him, including a few extra.

"WHAAAT?! Why do I have to do more?!"

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT TALKING BACK, UZUMAKI?!"

Grumbling some profanities under his breath, Naruto rolled up his sleeves and got started on soaping, washing, and then drying, much to the girls delight.

"Geez, why do you have to be so mean, dattebayo?" he mumbled defiantly. "Thats not how normal girls should I act. Except, well, when its one of their days..."

She only grinned and sat on the counter, the hammer still in her fist. "Uh, hello? Did you really think I was normal to begin with, yansu?"

While complaining the whole time, Naruto hurriedly went to finishing his debt while she blissfully watched him until he was finished. All the while, she inconspicuously left her hand on top of a large bulge in her pants pocket.

* * *

"Oh, yeah. Before you leave, here's your weird Gama-thing back, yansu."

"WHAAAT?! YOU HAD HIM THE WHOLE TIME?!"

"YEAH! AND DON'T YELL AT ME! Besides, you should be glad you saved money."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT, DATTEBAYOOO!"


End file.
